In just over three weeks the family and I will be outbound on cruise #10 (Platinum whoo-hoo!). After 10 years in the NAVY with 3 1/2 years of that "haze grey and underway" I'd have never guessed that I would enjoy cruising.

I took my wife on the Conquest (the Ledgend's older sister) for our 10th anniversary. Oddly enough I was planning our second cruise together during our first formal night.

The thing about cruising is that you can make it as action-packed or as laid-back as you want. All you've got to do is get the family onto the boat, after that, you can relax and let the crew take care of everything. No questions about "Where are we going to eat? Where are we going to stay? etc... If you want a quiet corner of the deck to enjoy a nap, look around and you can find one. If you want to run around with a bunch of college kids out on break doing belly flops in the pool, well, there's that too.

As stated above, cruising is what you make it. There are plenty of people who can be critical of something trivial (I call them professional vacationers) who want everything to be perfect. Anyone over the age of, let's say... 5 years old, should understand that NOTHING is perfect. But I really have to hold some laughter in when someone complains about the chocolate melting cake being "runny" in the middle.
Dude, if you've got questions... ASK! You are among friends here.